Tails of the High Seas
by jackravenrobyn
Summary: "You our big payday?" He spoke fast, and Bucky almost missed it. "I'm sorry?" "You're our ransom, right? Took you this morning. Slept like a baby." He was insane, Bucky was sure of that within the first few minutes. What Bucky did not know, however, was that this was perfectly normal behaviour for Tony. "They'll be waiting a while if it's a ransom they're after."
1. Prologue

The protesting, groaning creaks of the old timber threatening to dismantle set the jumpy crew on edge as the ship slid soundlessly through the sound swallowing fog.

A low whistle broke through the silence, rising to a higher pitch towards the end. A signal from the crow's nest, high up and unseen in the heavy fog. Visibility was limited to less than half a dozen metres and yet the lookout had eyes sharp enough to let him see as if it were the clearest day.

The haunting whistle sounded again; this time lowering in pitch at the end. Portside. Raise colours. Prepare cannons. All the awaiting crew could see was the all-encompassing fog.

A short, shrill note and the fire of cannonade filled the eerie silence. Cutlass sliced through the air with deadly accuracy.

A shriek of surrender, and it was over.

The ship held a disappointing haul. The captain refused to allow his crew to take food or water on basic principle. A couple of kegs of gunpowder were taken, along with a handful of swords and a ransom prisoner they found unconscious in the half flooded brig.


	2. Chapter 1 The Hermit

Bucky woke with a pounding head - the lump on his forehead was quite frankly massive.

When he attack came, it had come from nowhere. The force of the cannonballs hitting the ship had thrown him across his tiny cell and face first into the metal grille door. The cell he awoke in was most definitely _not_ the cell he had fallen unconscious in.

This cell - while still dark and dingy - was larger and allowed room in which to pace if one so wished. Another noticeable difference was that this cell was not ankle deep in water with rodents swimming in it. Indeed, just the other side of his metal grille of a door sat a ginger cat, its eyes glowing in the dim light.

Bucky swung his legs over the side of the bench he had woken on and noticed that the floor gently sloped downwards into the centre of the ship. They were in the hull and there was no bilge water? Either the captain had the pumps constantly manned or this was one well-built ship.

Shadows flickered in the dim light of the odd lantern ensconced candle. The dark shape of the cat looked away sharply, panicked. It hissed angrily and ran off into the darkness.

A short man scampered into the light. Everything about his appearance looked wild; rumpled clothes, sticking up hair and the wide eyes of someone who didn't get enough sleep. He stopped and stared wide eyed at Bucky for almost a full minute.

"You our big payday?" He spoke fast, and Bucky almost missed it.

"I'm sorry?"

"You're our ransom, right? Took you this morning. Slept like a baby."

He was insane, Bucky was sure of that within the first few minutes. What Bucky did not know, however, was that this was perfectly normal behaviour for Tony. Even before he had been kidnapped for ransom and his father had refused to pay, he had always been eccentric. Even after he had been released and allowed to work in the hull he was still strange. Sure, he ventured to the decks above when he wasn't tinkering or performing maintenance on the ship, and he interacted with the rest of the crew but he still preferred to be the crazy hermit living in the bowels of the ship.

"They'll be waiting a while if it's a ransom they're after."


	3. Chapter 2 The Ransom

When they next made port, the Captain and his second in command issued the ransom along with the customary 30 day waiting period. They then sailed up coast a ways, and beached the ship in order to knock off the cursed limpets and other critters that had stuck themselves to the bottom of the ship.

The prisoner was tied up in a seated position against a nearby palm tree. He watched the pirates as they worked with interest. The men were all stripped to the waist and came in varying shapes and sizes. Crazy hull hermit Tony was even partaking in the gruelling task, a fact which greatly surprised Bucky. As he watched, he tried to figure out which of the crew in front of him was the captain who was hoping to sell him for ransom. They all treated each other as equals, even though Bucky knew for a fact that the red headed woman near the prow was the first mate. Or at least, that was what she had introduced herself as when she arrived at his cell to transport him to the tree.

A man staggered away from the ship, panting hard and wiping sweat from his brow. He threw himself on his back in the shade not far from where Bucky was tied.

"Hey Cap! If you keep on like this, you'll work yourself to an early grave!" The redhead yelled in her husky voice. The man wheezing nearby raised his arm with a feeble thumbs up, dropping it when he earned himself a chuckle.

The Captain - if Bucky were to believe it - was the tiniest man he had ever seen. Hell, if he hadn't gotten a look at his face he would've assumed he was just a kid. The asthmatic captain wheezed away, coughing weakly on occasion. Bucky wondered why he had been taking part in the manual jobs if he knew he would get like this. His breathing eventually began to even out and deepen, until Bucky realised he was watching him; matching him breath for breath. Bucky's sudden sharp intake of breath set the captain into a coughing fit. He made sure to focus on deep, even breaths after that.

He couldn't help but feel a tiny bit of admiration for the determined young Captain. After he had recovered from the attack, the Captain sat up with a determined look on his face. Bucky knew that look. He lived in a house full of strong willed women growing up. The only way to persuade them out of something was to do something to distract them.

"You know, I could use the company, if they can spare you." Bucky drawled in what he hoped was one of his more endearing voices. The skinny man raised an eyebrow at him, and Bucky was glad to see that the determination had completely dissipated.

"Oh yeah?" He challenged, shuffling round so that he was facing his prisoner.

"Yeah. I've had to listen to Tony talking about how delicious seal blubber is for three days, and I'm about to go insane."

The Captain had a clear, joyous laugh that brought involuntary Goosebumps to Bucky's skin. It was a sound he liked far more than was acceptable.

"That's Tony for you. Has he told you about the great liberation?"

"Only six times already!"

"It's his favourite."

"Gee, Cap! I never would've guessed!" Throughout the exchange the Captain had edged himself closer to his prisoner.

"Steve," he offered, "Captain always seems too formal"

-XOX-

Bucky and Steve sat in the shade as they continued to watch the rest of the crew work. Occasionally they exchanged remarks and observations, but for the most part they were just sitting together in comfortable silence. The crew heaved the ship back into the water as high tide peaked but didn't make any effort to get back on it. The anchor remained halfway up the beach.

The fire haired first mate gave orders, and the crew dispersed with excited hollers. Half of them streaked past Steve and Bucky into the woods, their orders to collect firewood. The other half of the crew went to the ship, got in the long boats and attempted to catch a large enough amount of edible fish for the whole crew to feast upon.

"Steve." The first mate called, indicating that she wanted him to come to her. Steve staggered to his feet and trudged over. Now that the Captain had his back to him and couldn't see, Bucky shifted his arms, attempting to get some feeling back in them.

"Don't get too attached." The murmured warning clearly wasn't meant to be overheard.

"Like I need you to tell me that! Christ, Nat, I'm just being friendly." Bucky could see the sceptical look she gave him.

"Even I can see you want to climb his rigging-"

"Nat! That's enough!" He yelled, startling the birds that had been roosting above Bucky's head into flight. Steve was breathing hard, trying to rein in his anger. "Go catch us a pig or something."


	4. Chapter 3 The Crew

In actual fact, Natasha caught two pigs. The crew assigned to fish also had an exceptionally good haul. They cooked everything over the fire, and left one of the pigs and a load of fish aside to treat later to bring back onto the ship.

Steve and Natasha had untied Bucky and moved him closer to the fire as the night chill began to creep in. they had tied his wrists together in front of him and had also tied his ankles together as a precautionary measure.

Bucky's stomach rumbled at the smell of the roasting meat. The crew ate their fill – drank it too – while Bucky tried to prevent himself from drooling over the sumptuous smell. As the crew began to break into song and danced rather badly around the fire, Steve approached cautiously, looking back repetitively to ensure Natasha was too preoccupied being drunkenly serenaded by Tony.

He sank to his knees in the sand in front of the restrained man and glanced furtively back at his first mate again. He reminded Bucky of a naughty child sneaking behind his mother's back.

"Here. Couldn't let you starve." Steve smiled wryly, holding out a chunk of roasted pork. Bucky looked pointedly down at his bound wrists and the short length of rope that joined them to his ankles.

He raised an eyebrow cockily at the well-meaning captain. Steve – much to Bucky's delight – immediately flushed red and became flustered.

"I-sorry-uhm…"

Bucky gave him a filthy grin. "You gonna feed me, Stevie?"

The captain gasped sharply at the suggestion, a tentative smile slowly crawling onto his face.

"Sure." He held the hunk of meat just out of Bucky's reach, forcing him to lean forwards to take a bite.

He let out what can only be described as a pornographic moan as the flavour exploded in his mouth. It had been the best thing he had eaten in months.

-XOX-

The ship stayed anchored in the bay for just under a month. The crew hunted daily, preserving their catches so that they wouldn't rot when they eventually set sail.

After the thirty days had passed with not even a hint of payment, Bucky was given a choice: to join the crew or to get off at the next port. He had looked around him at the men and women whom he had grown fond of and made his decision.

At sunset they set sail, the crew more rowdy than usual and glad to be back where they belonged. In the galley below decks the crew got drunk on some concoction that had been fermenting while they were on the shore. For the first time, Bucky was joining them instead of merely watching.

When most of the crew were almost inebriated – if not snoring on the tables, benches and floor of the galley – Bucky scampered up the stairs to the main deck. He breathed in the sharp air, never having felt more alive than he did in that moment.

His attention was drawn away from the stars by the almost inaudible sound of a breathless sigh. He stumbled up the steps and over to the railing at the very back of the platform over the officers' quarters. He wasn't quite sure of its proper name. He was tempted to spin the wheel as he passed but decided against it. He stood next to the sighing man watching the water pass by in bubbles and whirls. He flung an arm casually about his shoulders and pulled him in for an awkward side-hug.

"Why the sighs, Stevie?" He murmured in his ear.

Had he been more sober he would never have been so forward. Steve turned his head and gave Bucky a long, searching look. If he had been about to say something, he never got the chance to. Bucky carefully pressed his chapped lips against the smaller mans, and was distantly surprised when they began to move against his own. After a moment, Steve pulled away and looked down quickly.

"Buck…" he began carefully, "I don' wanna be accused of taking liberties."

"'M not your prisoner anymore."

"No, but I am still your captain."

Bucky let his arm flop off of Steve's shoulders. He took a step back, shaking his head, "That's a lonely way to live." He turned and stalked off with far more grace than someone that drunk should have been able to possess.

-XOX-

Bucky settled into the hard work with ease. Muscles erupted from places he didn't know they could within the first month. He sometimes felt the scalding gaze of the captain on him while he worked, but he paid it no heed. If the man was moral to the point of denying himself the so be it.

What was perhaps the most surprising occurrence in the history of the ship was the fact that Tony had slowly, hesitatingly began to leave the hull more often and even – on one notable occasion – hijacked someone's hammock in order to sleep next to Bruce. The doctor slash berserker apparently intrigued the hermit and Bruce himself encouraged the friendship, which was not something he usually did. Nobody else understood what they were talking about most of the time.

As for Bucky however, he had gotten fairly friendly with the first ate, and also had faint suspicions that she wanted to invite him to her cabin one night. For Bucky it wasn't even an option, women just didn't do it for him. She found that out eventually though, on his first visit to a port Tony had affectionately named 'whoresville'.

He had fallen asleep in the brothel after using their services and when Natasha went looking, found him curled up in bed with another man. A pretty, feminine man but a man nonetheless. She didn't take it too badly, just raised an eyebrow at him and warned that if he wasn't back on the ship within the hour they would sail without him.

That night over dinner, Natasha leant over the table and spoke in a teasing voice that couldn't be heard over the din made by the others. "During your captivity did Tony ever break into your cell to relieve your urges?"

Bucky pretended to gag on his food and to his embarrassment Natasha's cackling drew the attention of most of the occupants of the galley.


End file.
